My Story

Nikki Lubing
English and Spanish Teacher

I was exposed to Spanish at just 7 years old when I first visited Cancun, Mexico. It’s not the Cancun you know today. Back in 1991 there were only a few hotels, Plaza Caracol shopping center and the Hard Rock Café. When I heard Spanish spoken among the people there I wanted to know what was being said, and it became a mission of mine to learn the language.

Part of learning Spanish meant studying abroad. My first experience living abroad was a 6 week cultural exchange in Cuautitlan Izcalli, Mexico when I was just 15 years old. I can still remember some of the exact phrases I learned like “Ven aquí,” (Come here.) and “¿Qué es eso?” (What is that?).

“Thank you for being a part of my dream to empower individuals around the world to become fluent in English or Spanish.”

A few years into teaching I started working towards my Bilingual/ESL endorsement. Working with immigrant students turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. This was not the first time I taught ESL. I had experience working with adult immigrants when I was 17 and volunteered to teach ESL at a community college. I continued volunteering at a center near Loyola during my freshman and sophomore year. Volunteering all those years ago, I never expected that I would teach ESL as a profession along side Spanish, nor did I expect to pursue entrepreneurship after nine years of teaching in the brick and mortar schools. However, I knew that I wanted more freedom and creativity to teach people of all ages. Now, with Enthusiastic English and Las Chispas I am making that change. Thank you for being a part of my dream to empower individuals around the world to become fluent in English or Spanish.